1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a virtual assistant system to wirelessly control a plurality of external devices and services and to provide communication and sharing of information between the plurality of external devices and services, and to selectively allow sharing of the control with other users.
2. Description of the Related Art
Advancements in wireless communications have allowed innovation in data sharing to grow at a rapid rate. A user may use a mobile device (such as a phone, tablet computer, wristwatch, etc.) to open up various applications/programs, operate various devices, and communicate with other mobile devices. A development called the Internet of Things, or IoT, reflects a growing trend of connecting to and controlling various devices and services wirelessly.
However, the mobile device is limited to requiring the user to input commands, instructions, and data in a manner unique to each specific application/program and external devices. More specifically, programs such as Facebook™ and LinkedIn™ each communicate in their own proprietary languages. If a user wishes to look up a person's profile in LinkedIn™ after having found that person in Facebook™, the user is required to type in proper search criteria in proper fields within the LinkedIn™ program itself. As such, although a user may separately communicate with Facebook™ and LinkedIn™, these programs do not and cannot communicate with each other.
As another example, Phillips has developed a light emitting diode (LED) light bulb (i.e., the Phillips “Hue”) that allows a user to change colors emitting therefrom via a mobile device that is running an application associated with the bulb. More specifically, the user must download and install, onto the mobile device, the application associated with the bulb, which communicates with the bulb using the Phillips Hue proprietary language. After the application is installed and running on the mobile device, the user may then control the tone, contrast, and color of the bulb using the mobile device. However, the user cannot grant access to the light bulb to another user operating another mobile device. Instead, if the other user wishes to control the light bulb with the other mobile device, the other user must also download and install the application associated with the bulb into the other mobile device.
Moreover, the user cannot use information within the application associated with the light bulb to interact with another application. For example, the user may not use information within the light bulb application to purchase more light bulbs in another application such as Amazon™. As such, the application associated with the bulb is limited merely to allowing a user to control the particular light bulb associated with the application stored within the user's mobile device.
Further, Apple™ and Google™ each include a voice assistant (Siri for Apple and Google Now for Google) on its respective mobile device that translates a voice received into a search program. However, the Siri™ and Google Now™ assistants are limited to providing a search and some device actions, and have a limited integration with other applications such as OpenTable™, etc.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system that allows all devices, programs, services and applications connected with the system to communicate therebetween.
Further, there is a need to be able to control any external devices or services desired via the web by inputting commands to perform such controls from a hand-held device.